Thursday, September 18, 2008

Evolutionary theory ‘not incompatible’ with Catholicism.

In a statement that's sure to aggravate the Intelligent Design crowd, Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi , head of the Pontifical Council for Culture said, (from asianews.it)There is no "a priori incompatibility" between the theory of evolution, biblical teaching, and theology, but there is a need to "clarify", 150 years after its publication, the work of Charles Darwin, which today "is too often discussed more in an ideological than in a scientific context", generating confusion to the point of frontal opposition between "evolutionism" and "creationism", present above all in the United States.

For too many years, the Catholic Church has been lumped together with certain Protestant churches and wrongly accused of being against science.The Catholic Church has never condemned evolution- has never banned Darwin's books- and popes dating back to Pius XII have stated that evolution does not contradict the Faith.

Other churches (mostly conservative Protestants in the United States) read Genesis literally and object to evolution being taught in public schools, preferring, instead, to teach Creationism.Creationism is the belief that God created the world in six days as described in Genesis. The Catholic Church does not read the Genesis account of creation literally, saying the story is allegorical.The book tells why God created the universe.....not how.In March 3-7, 2009, the Vatican will hold an international conference in Rome named "Biological Evolution: Facts and Theories. A Critical Appraisal 150 years after ‘The Origin of Species' ".There will be no representatives of the "intelligent design" movement at the conference.

5 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Sounds like unscientific mumbo-jumbo from a religious figure, not a scientist. Gianfranco Ravasi (born 18 October 1942 in Merate, Italy) is the current President of the Pontifical Council for Culture.Pope Benedict, it has been said, did not simply give his approval to this. He personally willed it, overcoming resistance. For years Ravasi has been a candidate for everything; he was even in the running for archbishop of Milan, but he has always been stuck at the gate.His first books were of pure biblical exegesis, like the three imposing volumes of his commentary on the Psalms. And so came the revelation of Ravasi as a great populariser. If today the Sacred Scriptures have become familiar to many in Italy, this is due in large part to this priest born in the Brianza region, in Merate, in 1942.As a professor of exegesis in the theological faculty of Milan, Ravasi immediately stuck out as extraordinary. He knew how to make himself understood by all, with simple words, within and above all outside of the academic halls.

"Sounds like unscientific mumbo-jumbo from a religious figure"?Nothing you wrote addresses the science of this either.All you have is speculation on the politics of it all.I suspect you're a Creationist.

After leaving my last comment, I see that you are right. I am a coward because I don't want anyone to know who I am. I'm really just a pathetic creature.Of course, you are not the moron....I am. I did not realize that by commenting anonymously, I have no control over whether or not my comments get deleted. I was so stupid that I didn't stop to think that someone could come back behind me and pretend to be me.Oh may God !!!!! What have I done ?!?!